I’ll directly quote the email, but i’ll just say, you do a Jack Caress/Pacific Sports event, this is what you should expect. He’s hustled numerous vendors and cities to the point that many cities have kicked him out and i’m not sure where he gets many of his supplies from given many vendors will not work with him at this point. Not shocked someone finally burned him back. And for what it’s worth, I wouldn’t trust a damn word he says in the email below, if you buy what he’s selling, I’ve got some land in africa to sell you…
To all participants of the LA Triathlon at Torrance Beach:
Yesterday, the city of Torrance canceled the 2016 LA Triathlon at Torrance Beach. With much regret, we are forced to announce this cancellation to our participants and sponsors only 4 days prior to race day. We understand that the cancellation will come with great disappointment to those of you who have worked hard and prepared for months toward this year’s triathlon. We are disappointed by the unexpected and unprecedented circumstances and demands that have unfolded to cause this cancellation.
We have listed the key points that led to the city’s cancellation of our event in an effort to offer some immediate transparency to all participants:
On August 31st, the City of Torrance sent to Pacific Sports an email demanding advanced payment, in full, to the city, prior to the event, for city services. There was no detail of the charges, simply amounts in total and the requirement to bring two cashier’s checks by 5pm. This is not standard practice in other municipalities and certainly not in those where all previous invoices had been paid in a timely fashion. In the same email on August 31st, we were informed that a significant separate payment was also required to be paid to the neighboring City of Palos Verdes, a city in which we have no footprint, no permit, no participants enter their city as part of our course, no liability coverage, and no relationship of any kind. This demand is unprecedented in our 36 year history as an event production company, and to our knowledge unprecedented in the event industry in the United States. This payment is demanded by Torrance (to be paid to Palos Verdes) although we have never been made aware of the apparent business relationship (although it has been requested) between Torrance (where we do have permits) and the city of Palos Verdes. Also in this email, it was finally revealed by the City of Torrance, after an audit requested by Pacific Sports, the city had significantly overbilled us by an amount in excess of 30% to the total in 2015 for city services. We have strong evidence that the 2014 invoice may have been overbilled as well. Importantly, we have no reliability that the advance payment demanded for 2016 (without detail of its calculation) is backed up by verifiable charges which will only be available after the event has occurred. Since August 31st, we have worked tirelessly with all levels of the city government including the city council and Mayor’s office in an attempt to bring resolution. We offered a structured and fair written compromise on these issues in attempt to insure the event went on as planned on September 11th. Ultimately, the city offered no compromise or proposed solution and informed us they had unilaterally canceled the event.
We are upset and deeply disappointed by the cancellation, but the requirements were unreasonable and excessive. Accepting the terms would have compromised the entire event and were untenable for us to continue at the current site for the LA Triathlon.
Moving Forward
We are now moving positively forward to our 15th Annual Long Beach Triathlon on September 18th and the 38th Newport Beach Triathlon on October 2nd. We want you to join us. We realize this is not the perfect solution for a cancelled event in Torrance, but these are races we are very proud of and we hope you will be able to race in one of them if you happen to not be already registered.
Your Options
Our partners at Active Network have made it possible to transfer your entry from the LA Triathlon to either the Long Beach Triathlon (September 18th), Newport Beach Triathlon (October 2nd), or our U.S. Open Triathlon in Dallas (October 16th) or alternatively any event on our calendar for 2017.
The procedure is simple and straightforward. Simply go to your Active registration and select “Transfer to Another Event†and pick your selected event. Or, if it is easier for you, email us your full name and the event you would like to transfer to at latriathlon@pacificsportsllc.com and we will make the change for you.
If transferring to another event will not work for you, please let us know by sending an email to latriathlon@pacificsportsllc.com and we can process a refund through Active.
We want to thank our very loyal sponsors, Triathlon LAB, ROKA, Clif Bar, Arrowhead, Herbalife, Erdinger, Active Network, MarkAllenCoaching, Tri-FAQ, South Bay Triathletes and all of our crew and volunteers who were ready to produce the event this weekend.
I personally apologize for the inconvenience this cancellation causes to both you and your families. If you would like to reach me directly, please email me at jcaress@pacificsportsllc.com.
Sincerely,
Jack Caress
President, Pacific Sports LLC
